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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28742127">No Right Way</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/semnai/pseuds/acemartinblackwood'>acemartinblackwood (semnai)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Magnus Archives (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aro Georgie Barker, Asexual Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Canon Asexual Character, F/M, Infodumping, Kiss-Averse Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Pre-Relationship (ish), University, fluff and acceptance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:47:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,133</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28742127</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/semnai/pseuds/acemartinblackwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jon and Georgie learn more about each other as they decide to try out some sort of relationship.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Georgie Barker/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Aspec Archives Week</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>No Right Way</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For Aspec Archives Week!</p><p>Inspired by a prompt by the lovely @hundred-separate-lines, who asked for “kiss neutral-to-averse Jon feeling like he won’t be able to have a real relationship if he can’t make himself kiss someone, and then a non-kiss-averse partner being cool with it”. I almost always write JonMartin, and since you seemed open to other ships, I decided to try my hand at JonGeorgie. Thank you so so much for the prompt. :)</p><p>Additional thank you's to dathan and whynotfly for their great advice and editing help.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jon was doing his best trying to keep up with Georgie. The band had just finished the last song of the night, and the large crowd of people were milling about, slowly making their way out of the venue. </p><p>Georgie, as Jon was finding out, was an expert at moving through a crowd. She twisted around people stepping in front of her and slipped past those ahead who were walking too slow, all the while tugging Jon along. It had become swelteringly hot stuck in the middle of the crowd, so he was all too happy when they broke free of the pack to reach outside. The crisp air nipped at Jon, and he watched as his sigh of relief crystalized in front of him.</p><p>Georgie turned to face him, still holding his hand. The overlapping voices of everyone around them was distracting, but Jon tried to focus on Georgie instead. She was smiling so wide her eyes crinkled, and there was a flush to her cheeks. </p><p>"Band was decent," Georgie said, a little too loud, Jon supposed from not only having to talk over the crowd, but also the muffled ringing in their ears from being a little too close to the speakers.</p><p>"I was pleasantly surprised," Jon said as dryly as he could with his voice raised.</p><p>Georgie barked out a laugh, before punching him lightly on the arm. "I told you you'd like them!"</p><p>"I'm just not a fan of--" Jon gestured to his ears. "I forget how long it takes to wear off, but did you know that this is actually tinnitus? The loud music actually damaged the hair cells in our ears. These sorts of concerts are approximately 115 decibels, and it only takes prolonged exposure of 85 decibels or greater to cause hearing loss…"</p><p>"Jonathan Sims, are you trying to scare me off from future concerts?" Georgie's face pinched in an exaggerated grumpy face. She pulled Jon a little closer to her, Jon assumed so they could hear each other better. </p><p>Jon laughed. "No, of course not. I think it would take quite a few concerts to really have any effect. It's interesting though. Apparently damage to the hair cells in our ears causes our brains to misinterpret the signal it receives, so our brains make up a sound instead! That's the ringing we're hearing right now."</p><p>"It's too bad our brains couldn't have made up a more interesting sound."</p><p>As Jon started to consider this, Georgie reached up to cup his cheek, and Jon immediately froze at her touch, eyes wide. </p><p>"You're so cute when you share this stuff," Georgie said fondly, with a soft smile, leaning up on her tiptoes, her eyes dropping to his lips, clearly about to give Jon a kiss. </p><p>A jolt of panic, his heart sped up, and he quickly pulled back. "Georgie, I--" </p><p>Georgie didn't look hurt, Jon thought, thank god. She actually looked worried, her head tilted slightly in confusion. </p><p>Jon bit his lip. Well. This was it. "Georgie, sorry, I don't-- um. I can't--"</p><p>Georgie's brow furrowed as she tried to parse what was going on. "No, no, this was my bad, I never actually called this a date anyway, I never asked if you were interested--"</p><p>"But--Georgie," Jon interjected in a panic. "I am interested in dating. Dating you. I like you, Georgie, I do. I just." Jon internally cringed. It felt like a death blow. And he hadn't even mentioned his asexuality yet. "Don't-like-kissing," Jon said in a rush. "It's uncomfortable? I actually haven't tried it, but any time I see characters on screen making out---it looks…" Jon bit his lip. "Gross? I don't want to try it, it's not for me, sorry," Jon said with finality, trying to project more confidence than he felt.</p><p>When Georgie didn't say anything for a moment, Jon decided it would be best to say his good-byes and leave her an easy out to get back home, not have to worry about mistakenly dating him anymore. He was already mourning how such a lovely evening had been wrecked so quickly. Jon ran a hand through his hair as he sighed. "I had a fun time tonight, really. I'm-- I'm sorry if it looked like I led you on or anything. And I understand if you're not interested in me anymore if--"</p><p>Georgie pulled a face. "Don't be silly, Jon."</p><p>"I-- what?" </p><p>"That's a completely valid boundary to set, Jon, I get it--" Jon started to respond but Georgie held up a hand. "Really, I do. Or I think I do. And if we're being honest with each other, before we date, if we decide to date-- I'm aro."</p><p>"Oh," Jon responded eloquently as he tried to process this. "I'm sort of like that? But. Uh. Not like that exactly. We can, uh, talk about it later?" Jon suggested, glancing around at the people loitering nearby, self-consciously rubbing the back of his neck.</p><p>Georgie laughed, not unkindly. "Of course Jon. I--honestly, I was starting to guess that." Georgie held out her hand, and Jon took it, and she squeezed reassuringly. "Listen, if you want, we can try this, whatever this turns out to be. See what happens. I don't like romantic stuff, but I like hanging out with you. Kissing can be fun, but I don't need it. You're fun, interesting. Cute. Good concert buddy. I'd like to try something out, if you still want to. What do you say?"</p><p>"You're... really okay with the no kissing?" Jon asked incredulously, his mind still solidly hung up in disbelief. </p><p>Georgie rolled her eyes with a huff. "Yes, Jon. Like I said, I'm interested in this for you. We had fun tonight, didn't we?"</p><p>"Yes, yes, Georgie. Fine." Jon let out a sigh, throwing up his hands. "We should probably head to The White Horse if we still want to grab something to eat, we can talk more there about this?"</p><p>"Perfect! I'm starving." Georgie beamed, before turning thoughtful.</p><p>"Georgie, what is it?" Jon asked suspiciously.</p><p>"Thinking about what we could do instead of kissing. Squeeze your hand? Big hug? Gotta show my affection somehow."</p><p>It was a wonderful, cozy sort of feeling, one that was almost alien to Jon, that someone would try to thoughtfully look for alternatives, instead of rejecting him for it or trying their best to ignore it. "I, uh, both would work," he stammered. "I don't mind a cheek kiss… I-- I think. We could try it out at least."</p><p>"Don't worry, I'll warn you next time," she said a little sheepishly with a slight grin, before holding out her arms. Jon let himself be folded into a hug; Georgie was warm against the cool evening air, her hands solid and steadying against his back.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you SO MUCH for reading! &lt;3 Comments and kudos propel me to write more cute ace Jon fics.</p><p>You can also find me on <a href="http://www.acemartinblackwood.tumblr.com">Tumblr</a>!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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